If you ain’t on Twitter yet — JOIN!

A great piece by John Nolte, who I keep seeing across the room at various events and conferences and yet never seem to introduce myself, about the essential nature of Twitter — easily my favorite social media platform. A kinda long excerpt (sorry, Breitbart folks):

We all laughed in 2009 when Politifact fact-checked an “SNL” sketch critical of Obama, but there was a method to their madness. Leftists like those at Politifact understand the power of satire to define someone. Thus, in order to protect Obama, Politifact was willing to make of fools of themselves to undermine any traction the “SNL” sketch about Obama’s broken promises might have received.

On a more serious note, here’s the harrowing story of how Media Matters stole justice from a black man beaten in public by Obama’s SEIU thugs only hours after the White House issued an order to “punch back twice as hard.” Most importantly, it’s the tale of how Media Matters gave the media the cover it so desired to ignore the story.

But it’s not 2009 anymore; it’s 2012, and Twitter has not only changed everything, it’s allowing everyday American conservatives the opportunity to beat Media Matters and these corrupt fact checkers at their own game.

The first time I took notice of the power of Twitter was when hundreds and perhaps thousands of everyday Americans completely dismantled the left-wing, superior snark-site, Wonkette, after the reprehensible publication viciously ridiculed Sarah Palin’s youngest child, Trig, who has Down Syndrome. This showed me that Twitter was an unbelievably effective organizing tool that could effectively call attention to and do something about an issue the media would’ve normally ignored. This was a passionate citizenry meting out justice, and because it was done in a responsible way, it was a beautiful thing to watch.

The Twitter event that really caught my attention, though, was what happened in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden. All of America was celebrating our president’s only successful decision to date, and it looked as though Obama would get a huge poll bounce as a result. Once again, though, everyday Americans who had taken to Twitter weren’t having any of it. Within hours of the news breaking, people started to ask how Obama could take this credit when it was the policies he opposed regarding enhanced interrogations that resulted in the intelligence that located bin Laden.

This question blew up on Twitter in such a way that something happened that up till then only the media could do: it changed the narrative. And as a result of thousands of people having this discussion without their filter, the MSM couldn’t do what they normally would’ve done: ignore something inconvenient to the Left. Suddenly the fact that Obama opposed the very policies that resulted in bin Laden’s death became very much a part of the news narrative and, as a consequence, in my opinion, Obama’s bounce was pretty much of the dead cat variety.

In the ensuing year, again and again, I’ve seen Twitter overwhelm the MSM and their protectors at Media Matters and those phony left-wing fact-checkers. Try as they might, whether it’s about Obama eating a dog, the hypocrisy of the War on Women, or the real facts behind the economic “recovery”; the media cannot ignore a conversation being had by millions upon millions of citizens. Most importantly, they can’t filter or control that conversation. If the media won’t tell the truth or point out the hypocrisies, we will — and the media not only can’t stand that, they’re also forced to grudgingly cover it or look completely out of step with what the “real news” is.

John’s “five crucial reasons” for this, each expounded further in the linked piece, are as follows:

Twitter is an equalizer in an eco-system where MSM types are no longer insulated in their bubble.

More and more news narratives start on Twitter.

The media no longer gets the last word.

The Left is losing the social media war.

It’s fun!

This morning, I spent a few minutes urging one of my favorite people, the uber-intelligent and amazingly generous (but frustratingly liberal and smart) attorney Gregory Forman, to immerse himself in Twitter — not for political reasons, though I suspect he’ll have fun cruising #p2 like the rest of his progressive buddies, but because it will allow himself to project his competence, thoughtfulness and intelligence as one of Charleston’s premier family law practitioners beyond the bubble of the Lowcountry and, indeed, beyond South Carolina.

I don’t know whether Greg bought my pitch, but I described Twitter as the online equivalent of sitting in a room (or, preferably, a drinking establishment) with thousands of friends, discussing the issues of the day. That dynamic, in part, is why I love it. I also love it in part because of what John Nolte wrote about — that it allows conservatives to dictate the message where they previously were kept out of the loop.

Dictating the message on your own terms is crucial, both in family law practice and in politics, and much in the way as the hilarious #ObamaDogRecipes meme took control of the Internet after the Obama campaign tried to make an issue of Mitt Romney’s treatment of the family dog–at least Romney didn’t eat man’s best friend–Twitter allows for discussions to be kept on point at times when the mainstream press will use any and all means to distract, delay and obfuscate. Think about the solid week we spent talking about contraceptives and transvaginal ultrasounds, for example, when millions of people are dropping out of the workforce at an alarming rate.

It doesn’t always work–consider, for example, that we heard only briefly about how some connected with President Obama attempted to pay for Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s silence in advance of the 2008 presidential contest–but for the most part, with thousands and thousands of eyes put on Washington and its cast of characters, Twitter is remarkably reliable as a purveyor of sunshine.